Yellowstone National Park 2023 Trip Reports
Trip Report ~ Bear & Wolf Sightings ~ by Bill Hamblin
12 through 17 October 2023
Yellowstone National Park
Beautiful Mountain Lion ~ Lamar Valley ~ April 10th, 2023 ~ Photo by Linda Rudge Carney © All Rights Reserved
Mountain Lion ~ also known as the Cougar, Puma, Panther, or Catamount ~ Puma concolor
~ October 2023 ~
October 12th - Thursday
36 degrees in Silver Gate this morning warming up to 48 degrees out in the park. I had a cow moose in Silver Gate today. At 8:00 a.m. we had two black wolves on Jasper Bench, one of them was the only pup this year. At 8:15 a.m. Stacey A found the two sub adult grizzlies on Ski Slope. Good viewing as they wrestled and then dug a little for breakfast all on last night's snow. Around 9:00 a.m. Scott from Yellowstone Safari showed me a grizzly sow with two large cubs high in the drainage east of the Slough Creek den. I watched them in the clearing and again later in a higher clearing. I could not determine if the cubs were yearlings or two-year- cubs (in late June I was seeing the Slough Creek sow with her two-year-old cubs. And I saw a sow grizzly with two dark yearlings in the area. I hope to see them again to determine which family I saw. Around 9:30 a.m. a collared black wolf was seventy-five yards off the road north of Long Pullout. It eventually crossed the road to the south and traveled through Crystal Drainage then headed east out of sight on the Northern Divide Ridge. At 4:00 p.m. three black wolves (one of them was the pup) were on a small carcass in the Amethyst Drainage.
October 13th - Friday
31 degrees in Silver Gate this morning warming up to 49 degrees. I saw a cottontail rabbit this morning near the Lamar Canyon. I do not usually see them in the park. I had a THREE DOG DAY (fox, coyote, and wolf) today. At 8:00 a.m. Frank H had a grizzly digging on the east end of Chalcedony Fan. At 2:15 p.m. I found a large grizzly digging in the high clearing east of the Bell near the skyline south of the old Buffalo Ranch. He was in view for an hour before disappearing into the trees. At 4:20 p.m. I found the two sub adult grizzlies digging on the Southern Divide Ridge often called the Salad Bowl. They were digging and feeding, and I watched them for an hour before they disappeared over the ridge going west. At 6:00 p.m. Rick R showed me a small colorful grizzly digging behind the Western Foothills viewed from Trashcan Hill. At 6:24 p.m. we were watching a nervous herd of elk on the top of Norris to the east when Mark R found a gray wolf on the skyline. It turned out to be five grays (one was collared) and one black wolf. They did not chase the elk but disappeared over the ridge line. We guessed they were the Shrimp Lake pack which now has seven grays, four of them pups, and one black yearling female.
October 14th - Saturday
37 degrees in Silver Gate warming up to 54 degrees out in the park. At 9:00 a.m. Frank H found the Junction Butte wolves on Jasper Bench viewed from Dorothy's Pullout. Today we watched seven gray and five black wolves. At 3:30 p.m. Geoff F found the two sub adult grizzlies again on the Southern Divide Ridge not more than one hundred yards from where they were located yesterday. At 4:20 p.m. my last sighting for the day was a small colorful grizzly digging behind the Western Hills viewed from Trashcan Hill.
October 15th - Sunday
At 7:00 a.m. I found a large dark grizzly on Ski Slope slowly traveling up hill. At 10:30 a.m. from Slough Creek I found a bison carcass just west of the Horizontal Forest with a collared black wolf feeding on it. The wolf fed for quite a while then crossed the river and then crossed the campground road going through Secret Passage on its way to Lamar Valley. From 12:00 noon to 2:30 p.m. I hiked up to the second level behind Dorothy's Pullout looking for wolves. Rick M had said he believed them to be bedded behind Jasper Bench and pointed out the area, which you had to climb the hill to see. Chris B and his daughter Mckye joined me on the climb, and they were only in the park for a day and wanted to see wolves. I slowed them down going up, but we arrived, and the wolves were moving to the west. We eventually counted eleven wolves, six grays and four blacks. I remarked as they approached the river near Fisherman's Pullout that they would not cross the road in daylight. Well, I was wrong again, and three blacks and two grays crossed the Lamar River then crossed the road to the south. The lead black crossed right in front of a large side dump truck. We watched them head south and west heading in the direction of Slough Creek. The remaining six wolves continued to howl for the next hour and remained in sight sitting and then bedding in sight south of Fisherman's Pullout. From 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. I returned to the carcass in Slough and watched a few of the five wolves come and feed at the bison carcass near the Horizontal Forest.
October 16th - Monday
29 degrees in Silver Gate this morning warming up to 68 degrees north of the park where I spend the afternoon and evening. I had a fox, and a wolf today but never found a coyote. At 7:05 a.m. a dark grizzly came from behind the Horizontal Forest to the bison carcass and stayed until 7:55 a.m. Others found wolves coming in from the west in two groups, today we watched five black, and four gray wolves mill slowly to the east and then got to the carcass which only had birds on it now. I spent the rest of the day north of Gardiner. I had two single grizzlies and late in the evening had a grizzly sow with two cubs of the year.
October 17th - Tuesday
45 degrees this morning north of Gardiner warming up to 65 degrees back in the park. I had a moose and grouse on the road north of Gardiner this morning. I ended up seeing eleven grizzlies this morning. Two sow grizzlies each with two cubs of the year and five individual grizzlies most looked larger than the sows.
People Seen
People seen this report: Wolf Watchers: From Montana: Rick M, and Janice and Cindy H. From Missouri: Frank H. From Colorado: Mark and Carol R, and Dale and Fay B. From Pennsylvania: Jack D. From Arizona: Steve J. From Kansas: Calvin and Lynette J. From Illinois: Andy and Nikki S. From Wyoming: Larry and Linda H. From Germany: Thomas and Christine. From Connecticut: Geoff F and two kids and Tenile. From Utah: Chris and Mckye B. From Wisconsin: Matt and Carla Rae C. And from Virginia: Colleen C. Bear Watchers seen this report: Jeff B, Kathy M, Doug M, Chuck, and Shari S. From Idaho: Kim and Joyce C, and Jon and Karen E. Others seen this report: From Montana: Michael S, Cliff B, John and Carolyn G, Nathan V, Emil M, Michele, Steve B, Chris H, Russ K, Shauna B, Mike S, and Evan S. From Idaho: Adam B and Scott B.
Beautiful Mountain Lion ~ Lamar Valley ~ April 10th, 2023 ~ Photo by Linda Rudge Carney © All Rights Reserved
Mountain Lion ~ also known as the Cougar, Puma, Panther, or Catamount ~ Puma concolor
Yellowstone National Park
Lamar Valley Map - Yellowstone National Park
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